For the educated or experienced observer living in Western Europe, North America, or Australia disability can be found in nearly every aspect of our daily lives. We see it in the news, on television sit-coms and dramas, in movies, and on the bus on the way to work. We read about it in books and magazines; we encounter it on the internet; and if we think hard enough, most of us know or have met someone with a disability. Beginning in the early 1980s, and due largely to the efforts of a global network of disability activists, important organizations and governments began to take notice of disability. Although much work remains to be done, especially in Central and South America, Africa, Eastern Europe, and Southeast Asia, the result has been the increased visibility of persons with disability, improvements in education, accommodation, and access, and an (sometimes reluctant) acknowledgement of the civil and human rights of disabled people.
In this class, we will discuss the various meanings of disability that have emerged out of nearly 30 years of activism and scholarship and explore the ways in which those meanings have changed over time. Our focus will be on the interesting and complex history of disabled people in recent United States history viewed from a global perspective.
If you enjoy studying things like race and gender, social movements, and recent social, cultural, and intellectual history, you will enjoy this class!
